


Unheard Complaints

by StripestheBoar



Category: Undertale
Genre: Brotherly Love, Emotional, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Suicidal Thoughts, Underfell, Underfell Papyrus, Underfell Sans, as in no fontcest, family dysfunction, just brotherly love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-08 22:47:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12874686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StripestheBoar/pseuds/StripestheBoar
Summary: Sans doesn’t like his brother all that much. He’s bossy, controlling, tyrannical, and not to mention just an outright asshole. Someone just kill him already.





	Unheard Complaints

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: There are references to suicidal thoughts.

Sans sat at the double doors that blocked off the only entrance to the ruins. He grimaced, tapping his phalanges impatiently. With a sigh, he rapped his knuckles on the door for the third time that day. “Hey lady, you in there?” he hollered, waiting a few seconds for any response. When none was given, he rested his mandible on his hand in frustration. “Fuckin’ kill me already,” he mumbled, spouting out his mood. He wasn’t exactly having the best day right now, though to be fair, every day he was forced wasn’t a good day for him. He let out a tired sigh and got up from his spot by the doors, taking a quick shortcut back to his station. Yeah, he could’ve just walked, but he didn’t want to risk another lecture from Papyrus should he show up while he was taking his sweet time. Plus, he didn’t feel like moving his legs.

Coming to his station, he thought about retrieving a hotdog from behind it and decorating it in several lines of mustard. He figured he might as well eat something decent before going home, where Papyrus would more than likely force him to eat some of his poorly-made food. However, he soon decided against it, figuring he wasn’t hungry. So instead he stood here with his skull resting on his arms, enjoying the peaceful quiet of Snowdin’s forest for the time being. Now that there was no lady to talk to, he figured it was a good time to get a quick nap in. Sure, Papyrus would have a fit if he saw him, but after having it happen so many times, his ability to give a shit had been reduced significantly. 

His brother had a set routine: work started at eight and ended at five, with Papyrus checking in every two hours or so, probably to make sure he wasn’t slacking off or wasting his time at Grillby’s. They got Sundays off as part of the negotiation with Sans, but older brother wouldn’t be satisfied until he got the entire week off. If it was one thing he hated, it was being woken up at five in the morning and forced to eat cancer just so he could spend nine hours at a pointless job. He didn’t get why Papyrus bothered keep checking up on him when he was pretty sure he knew just how god awful sentry duty was. Nothing happened, it was quiet, and monsters didn’t even bother to venture around there. Just the isolation alone made him want to hang himself from sheer boredom.

Sans was sure Papyrus was just looking for the control, seeing as he was surrounded by sycophants each and every day. He needed to somehow exert power over everything, including his own brother. If the collar wasn’t humiliating enough, he needed to know his whereabouts every minute of the day or he’d smash something. No one was allowed to touch him, and god forbid anyone try to hurt him. It was so bad that monsters were avoiding him in fear of his brother’s wrath. It didn’t bother him, though; he didn’t like any of them anyways. But at this point in his life, it was getting to be enough for him. He didn’t even allow him to lock his own bedroom door. Papyrus wasn’t just over-bearing; he was a goddamn tyrant over Sans.

The smaller skeleton yawned and closed his sockets so he could catch a few winks.

He wondered why Papyrus couldn’t just leave him alone and move on with his life. He damn well knew he was better off without having to drag around his giant angry potato of a brother. He supposed the same could be said for practically anyone else he knew.

“SANS! You imbecile! What do you think you’re doing?”

Sans cringed slightly, groaning to himself. Had it really already been two hours? Or was Papyrus shortening his visiting intervals. Should the second be true, he might as well kill himself now. 

He sat up straight, playing a cocky grin on his skull as he rested his mandible on his fist. “Hey there, Boss,” he greeted, watching the much larger skeleton approach, clearly angered by something or another. Sans guessed that something was him.

“You were sleeping at your station again!” Papyrus growled, his arms crossed as he glared down at his brother. Wow, way to go captain fucking obvious. Sans shook his head, a sarcastic tone playing into his voice. “What? Me? Sleeping? At my station? This station right here? The one I’m standing at right now with a totally inconspicuous pool of drool on it? Pfffft. No. Never! How could you suspect such a thing of your own bro?” Papyrus tapped a clawed and gloved phalanx on his humerus impatiently, an annoyed look crossed onto his face. “Once again, brother, your egregious attempt at humor fails to have any effect whatsoever other than to vex me.” His arms were now at his sides, bent outward like a disapproving mother. “You know what I told you about sleeping on the job?”

Sans brought his hands up to make air quotes. “Uh huh, ‘job’.” 

“Well you get paid, don’t you?” Papyrus argued, clearly annoyed that he was having this discussion again. “Well yeah, but fer doin’ jack shit! I don’t see why I need one when you’re head of the freakin’ guard!”

“This isn’t about the point of your job, Sans. It’s about you sleeping on it!” the younger skeleton scolded. “You sleep like a rock! You’re practically an open target.”

“Yeah yeah. Look, Boss, I seriously doubt any human is gonna waltz through those doors, see me, and try to kill me before I wake up,” Sans grumbled. “In case ya haven’t noticed, diddly-dick happens around here. I’d wake up from a pin dropping before some little shit got the drop on me.” Papyrus raised the tops of his sockets. “Oh? And what about monsters? Some Snowdrake looking for easy EXP could easily take advantage of you!”

Sans could only groan and rest his head on his hand for a few seconds. “God you’re so fucking paranoid- I’m  _fine_ , boss! No monster is gonna try to attack me if they know what’s good for ‘em.”

“Oh, you’re really starting to irritate me, brother,” Papyrus growled, clenching his sharpened teeth. “Perhaps I should make you carry the night shift!” Sans almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Why couldn’t he  _get_ it? “Are you kidding me? Pah, just kill me,” he scoffed, walking towards Snowdin.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Papyrus demanded. “Home! Where the fuck else?” he shot back, only to be stopped when his arm was grabbed and he was pulled back. “Don’t you walk away from me!” the tyrant spat, his sockets seemingly alight with rage. Sans furrowed his brow, but soon scoffed and wrenched his arm away. “Go fuck yourself. Just leave me alone for once,” he muttered, taking a shortcut home.

Upon landing at the entrance of his house, he threw his hooded jacket on the couch and flopped onto its cushions. He thought about going to his room or taking his anger out on something, but decided to just calm himself down with forced relaxation and TV. Papyrus was a stubborn bastard, but he was also a workaholic. He wouldn’t see that asshole until after five. 

Sans quietly fumed to himself, swiping up the remote to the TV. Who did his brother think he was, his owner? He already had a cat; what the hell did the need a Sans for? Why couldn’t he understand he was the cause of his own problems, not his older brother? Why couldn’t he just leave him alone and give the job to someone who actually want to go outside and be active. 

He wanted to start going through the channels, only to find out that the remote had gone dead long before hand. Now it was stuck on Mettaton’s channel. The universe just loved fucking with him, huh. He gave the device a confused look, pressing the channel button about a thousand times before throwing it onto the other side of the couch in frustration. “God, just fucking kill me,” he grunted, going upstairs and stopping at the balcony.

 At the end of the second floor was Doomfanger, his head between his legs as he licked his own backside. Sans grimaced. “Is this what you do all day when we’re not home?” he muttered, catching the cat’s attention. The feline quickly sat up straight as if nothing happened, but he knew better. “Heh, caught ya, bitch,” he chuckled. “You’re lucky I’m not in the mood to make ass jokes. I’ve got, like, fifty lined up.”

That’s when the door suddenly slammed open. “SANS!”

Sans froze, swinging his skull to the entrance in surprise. Papyrus was leaning against the door, anger flaring in his expression as he slammed the door. He looked like he had just sprinted all the way from the stations, and from how short a time his brother had been here, he probably did. He was quick to head up the stairs after Sans, quickly catching up to him before he could escape to his room by grabbing his arms once again, but like last time, the smaller skeleton wrenched himself away with a look of anger and disgust as he moved past him and down the stairs. “What is wrong with you?” the younger skeleton asked, chasing after him. “I could say the same for you,” Sans scoffed, snatching up his jacket and tugging it on.

“Brother, can’t you see that I’m trying to help you?” Papyrus reasoned, following behind him with sharp movements. “Oh yeah? Well no one asked you to do that, did they?” he replied, zipping up his jacket and heading towards the door.

“Sans, I just want you to-“

“What, Papyrus?” Sans exclaimed, spitting around to confront his brother. “What do you want me to be, huh? All active and haughty like you? Some obedient servant to your every beck and call? Well that’s not who I am, and for some goddamn reason, you can’t get that notion into your thick skull. Why can’t you just understand that I want to be alone? I don’t know what the fuck you’re expecting from me. So what is it,  _Boss_? What the fuck do you want from me?”

“I just want you to care about something for once, okay?”

Sans stopped, his brow bone furrowing. “Wait… what?”

Papyrus was still, his mouth agape as he tried to find the right words to say, but he couldn’t seem to find them. For the first time in years, Sans saw just how helpless he seemed at this moment. He didn’t look angry or enraged. He just didn’t know what to do.

“I… I’ve tried everything, Sans,” he admitted. “I got you a job. I try my best to make sure you eat something because you never fucking eat anything, even when you knew you were starving. I protected you from monsters. I’ve threatened you. I’ve put a goddamn collar on you. I wake you up and take you outside and try to have you do  _something_ , but no matter what I do, you just don’t care. Even when I forbade you from going to Grillby’s, you barely said a word of argument. All you ever do is sleep lie around everywhere and… and…”

“Paps… what are you…”

“I’m fucking  _worried_ , Sans!” he interrupted, almost sounding out of breath. “You have almost no HP as it is, and no matter what I do, I can’t get it to go back up. I’m worried…  _scared_  that every time I come for you in the morning you won’t wake up, or that you won’t be there anymore when I come to check on you. What… what am I supposed to do if you don’t come back, huh? What if, one day, I come home and you’ve…” He paused. “I mean… all you ever do is talk about how much you want to-“

“Hey hey, don’t talk like that,” Sans stopped him, grabbing his hand, his voice now a much softer tone. “Those were just jokes, okay? I’m not gonna go anywhere, I promise.” He caught a glimmer of red in his brother’s sockets. Were those what he thought they were? “Are you…?”

Papyrus quickly wiped under his eye sockets, looking away from what he could assume was embarrassment. “Sans,” he said slowly, his voice now sounding smaller and cracked. “You won’t actually kill yourself… will you?”

“They’re just jokes,” Sans repeated.

“Are they?” Papyrus asked. At that moment, Sans paused, his voice caught. He stared up at his brother, mouth open as tried to say something to assure his brother.

“San-“

Sans wrapped both hands around his brother’s much larger one. “I won’t,” he promised. “I’m not going anywhere, bro, I promise.”

Papyrus looked unsure, even doubtful, but gave a slow nod, pulling away from Sans’ grip and turning around to head upstairs. However, he froze for a moment, and before Sans could react, he was scooped into a tight hug by his younger brother.

“I love you, brother,” Papyrus whispered, his hug tightening. “I never say it as much as I should, but I love you more than anything. I say things I don’t mean or do thing I don’t want to, and something I think I’m the reason for all of this. But I still love you, Sans.”

Sans was frozen in shock, having not been prepared. Slowly, though, he returned the hug, something the brothers hadn’t done since Papyrus’ injury. “I love you, too, bro,” Sans mumbled to him under his breath. “And don’t you forget that. No matter what I do or what I say, I’ll always love you.” He gave Papyrus’ back a gentle pat before slowly pulling away. “I… I guess we need to open up a bit more, huh? Set a few ground rules?” he said with a chuckle. Papyrus gave a slow nod, smiling some as he rubbed his sockets a second time. Sans grinned, giving hive brother a small nudge. “C’mon, let’s talk it over lunch. I’m kinda hungry,” he said, gesturing to the kitchen. “That is honestly the biggest surprise I’ve heard all day,” Papyrus hummed, walking into the kitchen.

“Yeah, I guess I- was that a joke?” 

The younger brother just laughed softly, feeling like a small weight had been lifted. “I’ll cancel the rest of my plans today. I feel tired. I must be if I’m making jokes.” Sans just rolled his eyelights and walked over beside him. “Anything for lunch?” he asked. “Takeout from Grillby’s,” was all he said. “I’m kind of sick of my own food.”

Sans just chuckled, looking up at his brother. “Thanks bro.” Papyrus just nodded, picking up the phone with a small smile. “I just want to see you happy, Sans. That's all the thanks I'll ever need."


End file.
